Alastor Moody (Epithalamium series)
'Alastor Brendan Moody '(3 September 1929–''27 July 1997'') is a secondary character in the Epithalamium series of stories by Squibstress. Biography Early life Alastor Brendan Moody was born on 3 September 1929 in Carrickmore (County Tyrone), Ireland to a half-blood couple, Brendan Moody and Emer Sullivan. He was a late child of older parents (his mother was 41 when he was born) and had no siblings (an older sister, Siobhán, had died in infancy), but he played with numerous cousins, both Muggle and magical, who lived in the same village. Hogwarts years Alastor attended Hogwarts from 1941 to 1948 and was sorted into Gryffindor, where he met Einar McGonagall. The two boys became fast friends. Alastor was a good, if not stellar, student, but he was particularly good at Defence Against the Dark Arts and did well in Charms. Alastor was something of a duelling prodigy, and he advanced to the finals of the Inter-House Duelling Championship in his first year on the team. He was bested by the older Tom Riddle that year and the following two, but Alastor finally claimed the championship in 1947 and 1948. Professor Galatea Merrythought felt that Alastor had great promise and recognised his drive, but she was somewhat concerned about the young man's impulsiveness and his temper. She took him under her wing and worked with him to temper these qualities, and by his final year at Hogwarts, Alastor had become one of the school's best and hardest-working students, earning the five N.E.W.T.s required to join the Auror training programme. Family tragedy In January 1943, Alastor's mother died suddenly after taking a badly brewed Strengthening Solution. Alastor was devastated, and his sadness was compounded when his father, consumed with grief, became increasingly withdrawn and depressed. Alastor was comforted by his friend Einar, who had also lost his mother, albeit as an infant. When Einar invited Alastor to spend a week with him at the McGonagall family home in Caithness, Alastor jumped at the chance. During his time there, Alastor came to know Einar's sister, Minerva and became enamoured of the older girl. He hid his feelings because it was clear that she thought of him as a sort of "little brother," although the two formed a fast friendship that would last throughout Alastor's life. Career Armed with three "Outstanding" N.E.W.T.s and two "Exceeds Expectations," as well as stellar recommendations from Professors Merrythought, Dumbledore, Burke, and Dippet, Alastor was accepted into the Auror training programme in July 1947 and qualified as an Auror in 1950. His prowess with a wand was already well-known, but Alastor soon demonstrated that he had exceptional investigatory instincts as well. He was quickly assigned to the group that was tracking down British supporters of fallen Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald and made a name for himself by bringing in eight in three years, resulting in six convictions in the Wizengamot and earning himself the nickname "Azkaban Express." It was only his dislike for bureaucracy and his inability to hide his contempt for certain authority figures that prevented him from being promoted to the ranks of Senior Auror until 1964. These qualities ensured that he would continue to eschew management positions all his life, preferring to remain in the field for a record thirty-five years. Alastor's father, who had been part of an unofficial group of Irish Dark-Wizard hunters, was proud to see his son become a law-enforcement officer and lived to see his son become an Auror, but Brendan Moody died of heart disease in 1951. In 1972, Alastor began working with the Auror training programme, taking on several protegées over the years, including Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks. He was retired from active duty in 1992 but remained with the Ministry in an advisory capacity, helping with investigations into Dark magical activities. Relationship with Minerva McGonagall When he joined the Aurors, Alastor was pleased to become reacquainted with Minerva McGonagall, who had joined the Aurors after leaving Hogwarts. When he finally asked her out, he was somewhat surprised when she accepted. The two shortly began a tempestuous affair that was punctuated by frequent rows between the two strong-willed individuals. Although both enjoyed their relationship, it was ultimately doomed to fail, thanks to the innate competitiveness of the pair and the fact that Alastor always sensed that Minerva was in love with someone else. Minerva, fed up with what she felt was the Auror Office's anti-feminist sentiment, left the Aurors in 1949 to pursue an academic career in Transfiguration, which spelled the end of the affair with Alastor. He was saddened, but he knew that they would not have ultimately made a go of the relationship, and the two parted amicably. Injuries Most Aurors eventually sustained grievous injuries, and Alastor was no exception. The first was the loss of his right eye in 1957 while he was following Romulus Lestrange, whom he suspected was a member of the nascent Death Eater organisation of Dark wizards. Lestrange's curse took his eye and left him with a scar that ran from his forehead to his chin. His second major injury occurred in 1976, when his left leg was cursed off with a Severing Charm during a battle with several Death Eaters. First Wizarding War Moody was a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the First Wizarding War and helped plan and carry out many important operations, in addition to his official work for the Ministry of Magic. Second Wizarding War & death In 1994, Alastor was prepared to answer Dumbledore's call to come to Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher but was kidnapped and imprisoned in his magical trunk by Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr, who impersonated him at Hogwarts in order to capture Harry Potter for Lord Voldemort. Sadly, neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall recognised "Professor Moody" as an imposter. This was likely because the real Alastor Moody had become increasingly paranoid and eccentric in his later years, and spent little time with his previous friends after the conclusion of the First Wizarding War and the trials that followed. When he was freed from captivity, Moody dove into work for the newly re-formed Order of the Phoenix, and once again planned and conducted many operations against the forces of the Dark. During an operation on 27 July 1997, known as the Battle of the Seven Potters, Moody was killed by a Killing Curse from the wand of Lord Voldemort. He received a posthumous Order of Merlin, First Class after the defeat of Voldemort and the Death Eaters in 1998. Category:Males Category:Aurors Category:Gryffindors Category:Irish people Category:Dueling Champions Category:Individuals with disabilities Category:Wizards